The U.S. Navy has deployed the Huntsville-made Standard
Missile-3 Block IB for the first time.

The second-generation SM-3 Block IB, made by Raytheon at its
facility on Redstone Arsenal, is the second part of the U.S.'s missile defense Phased
Adaptive Approach, or PAA.

"The SM-3 Block IB's completion of initial operational
testing last year set the stage for a rapid deployment to theater," said
Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems. "The SM-3's
highly successful test performance gives combatant commanders around the world
the confidence they need to counter the growing ballistic missile threat."

The PAA was first announced in 2009 and is designed to give
the U.S. a new, more flexible approach to missile defense in both the U.S. and
Europe. The first phase began in March 2011 when the USS Monterey deployed with
SM-3 Block IAs.

In October 2014, ground was broken in Romania for the first
operational Aegis Ashore site, which will be capable of launching SM-3 Block
IAs, IBs and IIAs. The site is on track for 2015 deployment as part of the second
phase of the PAA.

The first Aegis Ashore test with the SM-3 Block IB and an
upgraded Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapons system will take place later
this year.

SM-3s are capable of destroying incoming ballistic missile
threats in space using nothing more than impact equivalent to that of a 10-ton
truck traveling at 600 mph. The program has delivered 180 SM-3s to the U.S. and
Japan and has 26 successful intercepts in space.